If you have a BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha, chances are you're seeing the above message on your device. You see, the devices appear to have an internal self destruct timer in place. No matter, just go ahead and reboot a few times, it'll stop and surely RIM will fix it in the next update.

Presumably, the reason for this is that RIM originally intended to be shipping BlackBerry 10 devices in October with developers by now (Sept. 1st) having swapped their Dev Alpha for limited edition version. Since BlackBerry 10 was delayed until Q1 2013, the assumed timer on the devices was never reset.

It's a long weekend, so I'm sure we'll not hear anything from RIM about it until a later time but it's an easy fix -- just slightly annoying if you were planning on working on an app over the weekend.

Thanks, Rezn!

Reader comments

I don't really know why people are upset about CrackBerry reporting this. From the comments, there are people who use the Alpha device and they visit CrackBerry.... so why wouldn't CrackBerry report on it? RIM is a big company with some trouble, but they will sink or swim with the release of BB10 (I hope swim). If they don't they will probably get bought out but there OS will probably live and we can still enjoy it.

Either way, whether they sink or swim, bought out and used or bought out and redone, this article will not affect their outcome. BB10 will affect their outcome. Most people see that an Alpha device saying "device program has ended" understands that it is *Alpha* and it would be give out for *testing*. People understand that it is not a retail version and this couldn't have any affect on future versions. The only people that will bash RIM because of it and pretend it will happen on future BB10 phones are people who already made up their minds on RIM and are in love with the fad that is the iPhone or the "non conformist" group that loves Android (which is, imho, a horrible crap OS that I regret ever getting).

First got the message last night and a quick reboot allowed everything to come back up normally - today, the same warning. Possibly something in the coding RIM forgot to replace when the updates came out.

I woke up this morning and saw the message on my Dev Alpha's screen. First place I looked was on CB and saw this post. A quick reboot later, and the Dev Alpha is back up and running. I was beginning to think I wasn't going to be able to do any testing this weekend, and would have to wait until next week to contact RIM. Thankfully, that is not the case. I'm glad it was posted here, otherwise I'd be wondering for a while.

Its a big secret because this maybe something that could save RIM and they don't want anyone stealing their ideas. Look at what Apple is doing with Samsung with the patent lawsuits. Wouldn't you want your new big idea to be kept under wraps till u actually release??

Way to go Crackberry on releasing unnewsworthy blogs that negatively impact and impinge on a fragile company's reputation. Adding fuel for speculation of a companys prospects to a fanboy site isn't the best approach. Perhaps next time consider sensors?

I am actually quite happy for the post. I got the error last night, and if I had not read this post, and that there is a solution, I might have gotten frantic. So thank you for the community help - which is what it is really all about!

Getting frantic over a troubled alpha is like crying over spilled milk. Most of us on the development workflow will have the simulator installed anyway.

It's not puzzling to expect instability on the alpha, I've had 1/6 blinks on my alpha several times and they come as no surprise. Please don't misconstrue- it is puzzling that a developer tool known to be in alpha, ergo unstable and unrefined, will get blog coverage as opposed to crackberry alpha devices forum coverage.

Realistically any news about alpha trouble doesn't reflect brightly on an organization realigning priorities to the general public and it can be especially confusing to folks who don't have the alpha or have it and don't use it for development.

Even more puzzling are folks coming here for alpha support as opposed to "official channels" such as the blackberry support forum or development support forums on rim or tweeting a bb evangelist. I'm just saying.

Who are you addressing and why are you playing the Internet bully? If you are addressing me, then you sir are in error. And so in terms of "discredit", let's be clear despite some questionable blogs, I respect the blog staff. However you yourself have done adequate damage. http://ytpartist.deviantart.com/art/Rootbrian-Motivator-122615296

It is such a shame that Blackberry can't seem to get its act together. I am a diehard and will wait for the new OS and phones. Most other friends and colleagues are bolting. Why is the release such a secret? I hope this limping company gets bought by someone with more resources and sense.

Seemingly so, we hope you get bought out and purchased. Then how would it feel to have nothing? Get the hell out of here. You have no authorities to make that business decision. You aren't even on the fucking board of directors.

RIM should have a rethink on the availability of th BB 10......it will be very interesting if they can have the device out by october. If RIM is actually putting the device up for sale next year, I bet a whole lot of people would have been contented with the iphone5 "THE EXPENSIVE SMART-TOY"
RIM please you guys can still perform wonders *winks*

I think you are on the right track. My BB10 Alpha crashed last week (or rather a program I am working on crashed) and when I restarted the BB10 the OS was back to 10.0.4.188. So I upgraded it [again]. Last night the same thing happened and I got the "device program has ended" error when I restarted, and the OS version was back to 10.0.4.188. When I upgraded to the latest OS the error message was gone.

How do you know it's not fixing itself? Maybe that's what the reboots are doing, when connected to the internet, it's phoning home and updating the timer info or whatever else triggers it.

The devices are enabled for logging, they do send anonymous log info BACK to RIM so there isn't any reason the fix couldn't come down from RIM as well in the same manner. Assuming you enabled the logging feature, which there isn't really any reason not to.

When something goes wrong, any normal person with common sense would try a reboot first before proclaiming the sky is falling. If they do indeed fix themselves, why even bother mentioning it?

Don't worry bla1ze Friday was a full moon if I remember correct( it has sent everyone into a tail spin of craziness) (I think it spilled over today also but I should probably post that on a different forum haha)
Long and short it all makes sense to me... Phone stops working... Restart phone... Phone works again... Developer happy again yayy.

I'm not trying to defend Bla1ze because he can defend himself, but fella, you are a true and downright stinking turd. I thought I flushed you a while ago, but you crawled right back up the sewage line. So tired of you.

You're tired of me? Who gives a shit? You always disappear when I ask the tough questions, so you're useless. Blaise dissed the guy, I responded, and Blaise ended up giving an explanation/apology to the guy, so mission accomplished!

I do not know it's not fixing itself. But it is evident (since this was sort of posted as "news") -- that this is something RIM has not warned anyone about. Or have they?

I don't know. Just seems kind of out of the blue and something that either is "forgotten" and poorly planned for. If it's worth a blog post I think it is worth RIM mentioning and saying "hey this is going to happen; here is the fix".

@ardiri is looking into it further, so hopefully it'll be resolved soon with a note about why. And I wasn't ouright disgreeing with you, it should be ackowledged was just thinking out loud the reasons why they may never have addressed it. But from the sounds of it, it was something that was just genuinely overlooked or was thought to of have already been taken care of in later OS'

I see this as the kind of thing that poor requirements could cause. Probably developers saw it coming. But culture probably prevented this info from trickling up through the management chain so it could be fixed.